There must be free and fair elections and proper accountability if order is to return to cricket

Dear Editor,

After reading the responses of the illegal GCB and Mr Anand Dyal (whom I do not know), I am even more convinced that they are only concerned with staying in power, and as a consequence have proceeded on a course of character assassination, designed to shoot the messenger and ignore the message.

Nevertheless there is an illegal group that has taken over Guyana’s cricket, the game which I love and in which I have invested over fifty years of my life. My mission is to see the return of order and democracy to this game with free and fair elections and proper accountability as required by the Cricket Administra-tion Act 2014. Any self-respecting cricket board that is concerned about its mandate would gladly embrace democratic principles and support the call for an expeditious termination of all outstanding court matters to stop the chaos, rather than encourage its prolongation.

My main criticism is that the judicial system by its lethargic decision-making process has been preventing eligible persons from having an opportunity to be elected, while an illegal group masquerading as the lawful authority continues to destroy cricket in Guyana.

Why is the current illegal GCB so much against the Cricket Administration Act, which clearly promises a resolution of the ongoing crisis? Are they afraid that the majority of cricket stakeholders would not support them?

Members of the illegal Board have been boasting of the recent successes of the national teams, as though they have been responsible, but while the youngsters have been performing well and need to be congratulated, kudos must also be given where it is deserved, that is to the Berbice Cricket Board executives headed by Mr Anil Beharry; East Coast Demerara Cricket Board executives headed by Mr Bissoondyal Singh; and Georgetown Cricket Association executives headed by former West Indies player and coach, Mr Roger Harper.

The Berbice Cricket Board, the East Coast Demerara Cricket Board and the Georgetown Cricket Association are the cricketing bodies that have produced every player who represented Guyana and subsequently the West Indies over the past three years or so.

Essequibo Cricket Board, West Demerara Cricket Association and the East Bank Cricket Association have not produced a single player to represent Guyana.

  1. Under the leadership of Mr Anand Sanasie of West Demerara Cricket Association the number of clubs has dwindled from 14 to 4, and all the West Coast clubs have withdrawn from his Board to form their Association.
  2. Under Mr Anand Kalladeen, recent President of the East Bank Demerara Cricket Association, the number of clubs similarly has dwindled from 11 to 3.
  3. In the case of Mr Fizul Bacchus, President of the Essequibo Cricket Board, precious little cricket is played throughout the year amongst member associations.

I challenge them to identify two players, including women, who played at any level for Guyana, and who were developed within any one of the geographical areas that they supervise.

It is important to note that Berbice, East Coast and Georgetown developed their players without any financial or other support from the GCB, which nevertheless sought to destabilize their every effort with interference. The irony of this phenomenon is that the areas that produce no cricketers have all the administrators on the GCB.

The bottom line is that the current illegal regime contributes nothing to the development of the young cricketer. They have reduced our cricket administration to a farce, a laughable sitcom with the placement of square pegs in round holes and mediocre officials who have made a mockery of our entire cricket culture. The dismantling of the Inter-county and installing of the franchise system added to a poorly implemented school cricket programme, appear more intended for the preservation of the status quo than the development of the game. Isn’t it a disgrace that despite our successes over the last three years, our representation on WI teams is so poor?

Secretary, Mr Anand Sanasie; President, Mr Drubdadur; and Treasurer, Mr Anand Kalladeen, must tell the nation:

  1. how the US$100,000 annual subvention for the development of cricket is being spent, since Berbice and Demerara have not been receiving anything for the past five years, and the areas they supervise are lacking any real activity;
  2. how the monthly US$45,000 for franchise cricket is being spent and how the payments to the cricketers are being effected since there is approval for a foreign exchange account at Scotiabank yet players are complaining of being paid in G$ at a reduced rate;
  3. whether the financial statements of the Board have been laid in Parliament and copied to the National Sport Com-mission in keeping with the Cricket Administration Act 2014 which Mr Dyal’s letter says the Board has accepted.

In concluding I wish to reiterate my concern for the sad state in which our cricket reposes and reiterate my view that the implementation of the Cricket Administration Act is the only solution at this time. In this regard the legal system must expedite the release of the order that stops all elections thereby allowing us to move forward legally. As a people we cannot only talk of democracy, and free and fair elections when it is convenient. It must be the order of the day.

Yours faithfully,
Claude Raphael